The Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation, Mr Yogida Sawmynaden, made this statement, today, at the Hennessy Park Hotel in Ebène during the opening of a workshop on Cybersecurity Capacity Assessment and Cybersecurity Capacity Maturity Model for Nations (CMM), in the presence of the World Bank Country representative for Mauritius, Mr Erik Von Uexkull, Professor Basie Von Solms of University of Oxford and other eminent personalities.

The three-day workshop is being organised by the Ministry of Technology, Communication and Innovation in collaboration with the World Bank and University of Oxford. The main objective is to gain an understanding of the country’s cybersecurity capacity in order to strategically plan further developments in the area of cybersecurity and cybercrime.

Minister Sawmynaden underlined that the emergence of Internet and digital technologies has brought an incredible transformation to the Mauritian society by driving economic growth and bringing a steady increase in efficiency and productivity. He recalled the growing number of challenges with regard to ensuring users’ trust and confidence in the cyber environment where the availability of the cyber space and confidentiality, authenticity as well as integrity of data has become questionable.

He underscored that Government has come forward with the Digital Mauritius 2030 Strategic Plan to tackle cybercrime by strengthening legal frameworks, maintaining strong cybersecurity mechanisms through regional and international linkages. A National Cyber Security Strategy, he said, is being implemented to effectively protect information systems and networks as well as the Mauritian cyber space.  The Minister emphasised that ensuring the security of the cyber landscape has turned into a key challenge for the country, business and society at national and international level.

Moreover, he pointed out that the deployment of the CMM model in assessing the cybersecurity capacity of Mauritius will contribute towards achieving cyber space resilience and increase effective investment into cybersecurity capacity. The Cybersecurity Capacity Assessment will also help to structure the establishment of the Regional Centre of Excellence in Cybersecurity and Cybercrime, he added.

For his part, the World Bank Country representative for Mauritius, Mr Erik Von Uexkull, underscored that the CMM review process will be carried out based on consultations with different stakeholders and the recommendations of the assessment will enable the country in enhancing its cybersecurity capacity. Consequently, the World Bank will issue a report comprised of the in-country cybersecurity context, he concluded.